Items tagged with Valve

Valve is looking to crack down on developers and publishers prioritizing concept art over actual game screenshots to show off their games. The company hasn't been all that clear on its rules for screenshots, so it sent out a message clarifying its guidelines and expectations when it launches what it is calling the "Discovery 2.0 Update," an upcoming overhaul to the Steam UI. The main complaint is that filling the screenshot section of a game with concept art can be confusing or even misleading to customers. Valve itself wasn't immune to the practice. Holding its own feet to the fire (and leading...Read more...

Earlier this morning, we reported on the troubling news that the source code for the Mirai IoT DDoS botnet is now out in the open. If you recall, Miari is the botnet that was able to flood KrebsOnSecurity with 620 gigabits per second of traffic using a horde of zombie IoT devices (the attack was so devastating that Akamai cancelled its pro bono hosting arrangement with Brian Krebs). However, with Mirai source code now out for anyone to take advantage of, we may be seeing even more wide-scale DDoS attacks taking place in the future. And while KrebsOnSecurity might not exactly be a site that you...Read more...

Has Windows 10 run out of steam? It’s probably too early to declare that the computing public has given up on the operating system, but there’s definitely less of an urgency on the part of Microsoft customers to upgrade to Windows 10 now that it is no longer a free upgrade. A slight regression in market share is being reported for Windows 10 by three sources: NetMarketShare, StatCounter and Valve’s Steam Hardware and Software Survey. In NetMarketShare’s case, Windows 10 was sitting firm with 22.99 percent of the global operating system market in August. However, that share rolled back to 22.53...Read more...

There's been an uproar from gamers about No Man's Sky, one of the most highly hyped games of the year that many feel didn't live up to expectations. Even worse, ticked off gamers have accused developer Hello Games of misleading buyers with descriptions of the game's content and scope that don't measure up to the actual experience. That's how it's been pretty much since the game launched, though now Hello Games and Valve are both under investigation. A user on reddit's forums says he received a response from the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) in the U.K. about trailers, screenshots, and general...Read more...

An indie game developer is facing repercussions from Valve after it decided to file a lawsuit against a band of anonymous Steam users. The suit alleges a number of offenses, including cyberbullying, stalking, forming a hate group to harass and disrupt the company's business and products, and so forth. In response to the lawsuit, Valve removed all of the developer's games from Steam. Digital Homicide and its co-founder James Romine are seeking $18 million from 100 anonymous Steam users known only by their online nicknames. In the suit, the developer asks the court to subpoena Valve to fork over...Read more...

Microsoft is doing everything within its power to get everyone with a PC to upgrade to Windows 10. While not without the occasional controversy, its efforts are paying off, particularly among gamers. According to the latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey, almost half of all players who use the digital distribution platform are now running Windows 10.The figure stands at 47.44 percent for Windows 10 64-bit, an increase of 2.77 percent compared to a month ago. Another 1.51 percent of gamers on Steam are using the 32-bit version of Windows 10, bringing the overall tally to 48.95 percent. It's...Read more...

Valve has been no stranger to sharing some of its home-brewed technologies, and now that's being extended to VR, a market that the company is very serious about. The company has just decided to release its 3D tracking technology to anyone who wants it, and the best part is: it's royalty-free. In its press release, Valve's Alan Yates gives some feel-good vibes: "Making this tracking technology available to more partners is an extremely important step in the evolution of virtual reality and 3D tracking. We are very confident that doing so will result in new and innovative experiences for all VR customers."...Read more...

Valve is attempting to wipe its hands clean of the lucrative gambling business that's developed around its Steam trading system and Counter Strike: Global Offensive game. The company says it will send send letters to gambling sites that use its Steam platform and request that they cease operations through its cloud-based gaming service. "We’d like to clarify that we have no business relationships with any of these sites. We have never received any revenue from them. And Steam does not have a system for turning in-game items into real world currency," Valve's Erik Johnson stated in a blog post.This...Read more...

If you download games from Steam and Windows 10 is your operating system of choice, you are not alone. According to a recent Steam survey, nearly 45% of Steam customers use Microsoft's latest operating system. This is a a 3.26% increase from last year. It turns out that Windows operating systems dominate, period. 95.5% of Steam customers prefer Windows, including Windows XP and Vista. Only 3.6% of customers use OS X and less than 1% of Steam users prefer Linux. Despite these small numbers, OS X and Linux saw an increase in popularity with Steam users. The survey revealed other interesting features...Read more...

We've been hearing for quite some time now that virtual reality is the next big thing in gaming, and companies are just saying it, they're actively preparing for such a future. Take Valve for instance. Even though Valve is operating the most popular digital distribution system for games, along with various side projects, it's devoted around one-third of its talent to VR. That's according to Alan Yates, a hardware engineer at Valve who recently answered some questions at reddit. His posts weren't part of an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, but there were some interesting revelations nonetheless, the...Read more...

Valve just released a free Destinations VR creation tool and it was built with Valve's Source 2 engine. It is important to note that this is early access software and it will continue to develop as time goes on.The Destinations workshop page on Steam notes, “Early Access is a great way to get our community involved. While we continue to build out the features and worlds of Destinations, we are releasing a set of creation tools, sample worlds, and documentation for the creators of our community.” Valve's Destinations Workshop Tools let you create, share, and explore both real and imaginary...Read more...

Valve went out on a bit of a limb when it decided to design its own gamepad, but gamers have spoken and apparently they dig the the somewhat funky design. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine that Valve could sell over 500,000 of them, as it claims to have done in a blog post outlining some of the recent changes it's made. "We’re excited to announce that over half a million Steam Controllers have been sold. With every controller that comes online we get the opportunity to get more feedback on how to make the Steam Controller even better. We’ve been hard at work with the community, and wanted to share...Read more...

Want to play a fun drinking game? Take a shot of your favorite spirit every time you see a May the Fourth post referencing Star Wars Day on Facebook, just don't plan on going to work tomorrow, you're going to be hungover. Or you could call in sick to work to play all the discounted Star Wars games you bought from Steam!These aren't bite-size discounts, either. Steam busted out its big boy/girl lightsaber and sliced prices on dozens of Star Wars games, marking them down by as much as 77 percent in some cases. That includes the Stars Wars Collection, a bundle of two dozen titles with gems like Jedi...Read more...

Valve has decided to start accepting Bitcoin payments on Steam in an attempt to expand the accessibility its digital distribution empire into emerging gaming markets such as India, China, and Brazil. By adding Bitcoin to the mix, Valve is making it easier for gamers who live in places where traditional payment options aren't available to stock their online libraries. Bitpay will handle the logistics of accepting the popular cryptocurrency through Steam. According to Bitpay, it was Valve that approached the company to make this possible so that it could "easily reach gamers in every market around...Read more...